Fit2Thrive

Daddy, I want to see some Dinosaurs!!!!

The trip today was round the corner to the dino world part of gulliver land in Milton Keynes. It was a nice sunny day (pretty windy though ) so my wife sold it to me as an outdoor park full of dinosaurs rides and a farm.

Map of the park

Gullivers Dinosaur and farm park was £9 each for entry, even for our 3 year old so I’m not sure I’d go again with two parents but just with my little one I think I would, simply because it’s a really hands on place to go.

They do have some hands on activities

What’s on

They have a bunch of different themed play areas and climbing frames that we got to play on and chase each other around. It seems very simple but play is how I teach him about the fun of gravity as well as introduce him to different things like the beautiful dinosaur sculptures that were on display.

There is a Euopasaurus. Who knew!!!

The first thing we did was enjoy the big sand pit right next to reception which leads to an exploration centre introducing kids to archaeology with all sorts of tips on finding fossils and examples of fossils to hold which is much better than a museum in my mind.

Very old rocks and a fossil 🙂

The displays obviously went over my littles ones head but I really liked them so there are things for adults to appreciate and for different ages. Of course at his age he was happy as larry playing with the sand so I got in a nice period of relaxation 🙂

Just got to finish my sand castle and I’ll be with you daddy.

The big sand pit is very busy

Woohoo that’s the biggest dinosaur I’ve ever seen!!!!

Climb like a dinosaur!!!

Then we wandered a little and found a great little themed climbing frame. We had so much fun chasing each other around it. He’s really getting good on his feet and climbing with his hands. He rarely falls over now, just a month or two ago he seemed to fall every 10 minutes, at least when he was around me because he’s always running when I’m around 🙂

You can’t get me daddy 🙂

I’m on top of the world!!!!

Everyone loves a good slide

All aboard for the Boat ride!!!

There’s a giant dinosaur on the water ride

Then we found the boat ride which turned out to be really fun. He loved copying what the guide said and really enjoyed seeing the dinosaur replicas. I was impressed because some really looked quite lifelike which brought the experience to life for me. I really could get a feel for these things as giant lizards and mammals because the attention to detail was there. I started to notice through many little touches that the park was designed and run by people who enjoy dinosaurs and want to share their fascination.

Rooooaaaaarrrrr!!!!!

Daddy, the stegosaurus has lots of spines!!!!

After the water ride we explored the dinosaur sculptures. Seeing them up so close I was really starting to get a feel for what they were like.

Face to face with an angry Tyranosaurus

After lunch we visited the farm which I’ll cover in a separate post.

Throughout I kept seeing little efforts to share knowledge and particularly efforts for interactive fun and learning like little boxes containing a model of something that you have to put your hand in and guess what it is. There were spiders, dinosaurs and all sorts.

A dinosaur jigsaw on the bridge over the park

There are lots of boxes around the park to put your hand in a guess what’s in there. Little one liked the Iguana

After that we found the excavation area and the tree top climb which had more little things to put your hand in to guess what they were. I could see a climbing wall and other things in a play area for larger kids. Then we came to the digging area. We spent another 20 or so minutes there happily digging away for stones, then fossils in the sand pits. Just so much fun with an energetic little boy.

Looking down onto a woolly mammoth from the bridge

The fit family adventure 🙂

This is how I keep myself and my family fit and healthy. You might have noticed how active this is yet how easy it is to pace yourself with it because you can get involved or take a break when you like. The little one was entertained either way and for me this beats the gym or a run any day because it’s far more practical and far more fun.

Gyms, runs and most forms of “exercise” don’t really prepare you for real life because they aren’t real life. Workouts should prepare you for your life just like proper meals nourish you in a way fast food doesn’t so I like to swap the gym and other forms of “exercise” for more time with my family. I use the time with my family as my workout or as I prefer to think of it as my “adventure” :-).

You may not realise how much of a workout it really is but trust me I have never felt stronger or fitter, particularly for doing things that really matter like fixing gates, cars and carrying little ones when they need it plus all the luggage they come with.

Gyms don’t prepare you for normal life

Years lifting weights and running just didn’t prepare me for the rigours of a normal life playing with my family and as a trained PE and sports science graduate I can tell you that time with my family is more appropriate to the life I want to live.

So this is how much fun I have when I “exercise”. If you want to know how to do this for yourself then get in contact, like me on facebook. follow me on twitter and just get in touch. I know I can help you have more fun and feel better in your body at the same time.

As you can see my approach is very simple,

by having fun I keep fit and I keep fit so I can have fun

Another way of putting this is

I can because I do and I do because I can

This is how I keep myself and my family fit and healthy. I have so many fun ways that you’re going to love to be entertained and add some healthy touches so If you want to know more get in touch.

What steps did we take?

The principles of Fit2Thrive are baked right into every day life so the better you get at it the easier it is to take a bunch of steps every day that invest in your health and happiness.

I’ve been doing this so long I manage to cram so many things into just one or two activities so I’ll just list some of the things we gained from today

Play

We taught our little one how much fun dinosaurs expeditions are. We dug for fossils, had a boat ride and played in sand

We found a great new outdoor park where he can see how dinosaurs really lived and looked like.

We explored different ways to learn about dinosaurs, including:

the bridge that goes over the park,

the sand pit,

the water ride

the excavation area

the climbing frame

Compete

Little ones need to learn about the world around them and he learnt about history, fossils, digging, and all the fun that dinosaur investigation brings

We enjoyed spending time as a family. Work and other things get in the way but we forgot all that and just had fun together

My wife didn’t think it was cheap because it’s £9 per person so we wouldn’t go regularly but as an outdoor place to play and learn with my son it was fantastic. You can bring your own food too and parking is free.

Create

Got a dose of vitamin d

built up our resistance to skin cancer

Built up his mind and experience from new adventures.

Did a bunch of squats, shoulder raises, stretches and various other movements all as part of piggy backs, chasing and racing each other and exploring.

So that was our fun day and how it contributed to even more fun days throughout the year. We’ve found another wonderful new place to explore, had fun as a family and introduced our little one to the fun of dinosaurs.

If you want to learn how this much fun can make you stronger then sign up to my newsletter or get in touch through social media or email.

Thanks a lot for listening and I hope you have a great day.

Colin

p.s

If you want to find things that you love (play) that are part of your daily pressures (compete) which build your path to health and happiness (create). Then sign up to my newsletter where I show everyone how to speed up the process.

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Comments 20

This looks like an awesome park! It is a bit expensive I guess for a family of four, so you wouldn’t go too often, but it does seem like it is a pretty fun experience. Pretty interesting how you incorporate workouts in family time too – I am a bit guilty of just doing the gym and then when we go to the park I just lazily walk around after the little one. I could definitely burn a few calories having fun too 🙂 #countrykids

I started out doing weights, runs and all the usual exercise and became a gym instructor and to be honest i just got bored of it and noticed that the fittest and happiest people I knew just did the stuff they love and got fit while doing it so that is what I’ve been doing myself and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

Thanks sarah. I loved all those little touches and hadn’t noticed Slime school. We won’t go regularly because it will get a little boring but once in a while or as a one off for outdoor fun and getting really interactive it was fantastic.

Thanks John, Fit2Thrive really works for my family because it directs our efforts towards having more fun. Workouts just come from chasing kids or carrying the hurt, tired or ill ones and of course all their “effects” or building the infrastructure like you nest (home), travel options (fixing the car or getting a train or walking etc) and getting supplies.

Knowing that it’s all going towards fun either now or later in the year is what makes the whole thing easy to do.

Sounds like a great day out. £9 I think us very reasonable for a full day out.looks like lots to do. I also agree running around after little ones on a day out, carrying the extra stuff etc, is a form of a workout, maybe not as intense, but sure is a workout in itself. #countrykids

I know, I have never seen any so big, even at the Natural history museum and it really made me feel like I was up close with something real. My little one just had so much fun and all the other kids seemed to be having a great time too.

Me either and I live round the corner from it. My wife wasn’t such a fan of it but we like different things. It’s so interactive which is what I prefer so it’s not about queuing up and being taken around something its about getting involved and digging, lifting and identifying things and finding fossils. So for me and my little tike it’s just a giant play area.

A great looking place if steep to have a 3 year old pay the same as the adults. However it is clearly for the benefit of little ones and captured your boys imagination. Lovely fitness tips I have to agree with and so much more fun than the gym! thank you for joining me for Country Kids.

Thanks fiona I feel we pay the same for indoor play centres and don’t quibble so, as long as the weather is good, this is bigger and there’s more to do. So it just depends what you want. I’ve loved the posts I’ve read so far on country kids so I’ll be back again soon 🙂